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knockout 02 |
A Weekend
of Live Backgammon in London is only 3 week away and it was time to brush up on my Knockout T.D.ing
skills. Besides I nowadays try to run a online Knockout once per month
and I missed last month, so all the more reason to catch up.
We had 14 Players registered but one never arrived so we had 13
Players and 3 got byes in the 1st round of the Main. The design of the
format guarantees all Players 2 matches even if they get a bye in the
1st Round of the Main. T.D.s pray for a full compliment of Players but
Their Lord rarely bothers with such pleas and says "Just get on
with it - I didn't make life perfect ya know !" So I did.
Drinks had been served, Players were given guidelines and 1st Round Main
matches were posted up.
All was running smoothly until Skyjames asked me to watch his
match with Watchmaker. They had created a non-doubling cube match
and James wanted to double. Quite rightly they had called me to attend
their match. I'm sure I heard the Devil chuckle in the background. But
between James, Watch and myself we sorted it out - James went 1 - 0 up
as Watch dropped, then Watch resigned the match, they created a new
(doubling cube) match, Watch resigned the 1st game and they played on.
Eat ya heart out Mr Devil ! Credit to James (a T.D. himself) and Watch
for keeping their heads and not making a mess out of a hipcup.
If you had just had a heart bypass would you enter a Tournament ? I
wouldn't - I'd play (if anybody/thing at all) Snowie Dopey. But RocknRoll
did. I'm not sure if his Doc knew about this, but I served Rock water
only throughout the Tourney. Rock's first opponent was our missing
Player so I was happy to see Rock get a bye in the 1st Round of the
Main.
Because of the format a few Players left hanging around waiting for
their next match. Worst effected were Netmusen, Bedstefar
and Xantippe but I've since paid the bar bill and so I don't feel
so sorry for them anymore ! There is not a lot a T.D. can do about this
problem, but I might try altering Match lengths next time to sort this.
We only had one new Player to "The Gang" - Kimmaree had
been introduced by TopazJ (who had to drop out before we started
because of domestic reasons) and was made welcome by all. Unfortunately
Kim had some connection problems and Xantippe was left waiting, waiting
and drinking. I'm looking into why Players from Australia and New
Zealand seem to have slow connections.
Laur was the first casualty and Grant (though he won his
1st match) soon joined her.
BigDave achieved a swift run, winning over Mazda en route,
into the Final of the Main then had time to relax while other matches
chugged along.
Yabble did well in her first Knockout Tournament and won through
to the Consolation Final. Here she met with Xantippe who quickly
polished off her slow evening with a good win.
Back in the Main Tournament it was Mac_The_Dice versus BigDave
in the Final. Mac got the upper hand, retained it and (score wise at
least) cruised home to win this 2nd Knockout.
Oh, and RocknRoll survived the experience !
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